Science fiction lies somewhere between reality and fantasy.
A unique playground for speculation, examining our humanity either as a telescope observing
what we might become or as a microscope magnifying what we are made of.
A place where complex themes or theories can be explored to the extremes of our imagination.
Thankfully, cinematic technology has advanced to the point where most of what we can think
of can be placed on to the screen.
But this has also facilitated the production of subpar attempts that simply borrow some
of the concepts of time travel, AI, first contact and space travel as a narrative tool
to advance a story without any attempt at exploring them.
Sometimes they start with an interesting concept but fall flat beyond the synopsis or the sci-fi
elements are only used as backdrops to tell a known story in a different way.
Not that that can't be good or entertaining, but I feel we should strive for something
more , especially now that we have the technology
and that science fiction is taken seriously and appreciated by the general audience.
I think we should take the time to tell much more compelling science fiction stories.
Like one of my favorite recent movies: Arrival.
In today's video we will be examining Arrival's believable approach to a first contact story
and what makes it such an effective science fiction movie.
And as with any of our videos, heavy spoilers will follow.
-Where did you come from?
[Alien noises]
-Now you heard it.
-What do you make of it?
-Is that...
-...Yes
First off, Arrival is not your typical Hollywood sci-fi blockbuster.
There aren't any space battles, earth-shattering explosions or futuristic gadgets or tech.
Just normal people doing their jobs with currently available technology during an extraordinary
event.
Denis Villeneuve wanted the film's cinematographer, Bradford Young, to approach the movie as a
"boring Tuesday morning then the aliens show up".
He wanted the movie to look like a "dirty sci-fi film", stripping away the visual spectacle,
leaving place for something unrefined.
Like any random major world event, there usually isn't any pomp or buildup, it just happens
unexpectedly.
Our daily lives are suddenly interrupted and the mundane gives way to the surreal.
Dr. Louise Banks, a linguist, was just going along with her life, teaching a class when
12 ships changed the world forever.
Once the aliens make their appearance, the story doesn't jump ahead to known tropes of
invasion or first contact films, instead, we see a serious and realistic take on how
we could communicate with beings beyond our planetary system.
There is no MacGuffin that magically facilitates interspecies communication.
The characters have to earn every discovery and breakthrough while working rationally
and on a step by step basis.
This reminds me of the approach found in hard science fiction.
You have scientists at the top of their respective fields working to solve a problem that humanity
is facing.
The focus here is on the tedious nature of maneuvering around the basic hurdles of communication.
-We need to have enough vocabulary with them that we understand their answer.
Another way Arrival grounds the story is by how it limits the perspective of the movie.
The biggest world changing event is happening and we don't see much of the outside world
other than through screens.
12 ships have appeared, but we only have access to one of them and the remote army base next
to it.
A multitude of experts, researchers and army personnel are trying to make sense of what's
going on, but we only follow Louise's journey.
Even the cinematography visually isolates everything using a very shallow depth of field
blurring out most of what isn't in the foreground.
So how can this help the story that's being told?
Well, it manages to create intimacy that mirrors the first-person view of the original short
story.
It also helps to separate us from any narrative distractions that might be used from this
genre.
We get to be in the main character's unique headspace and observe how the weight of this inhuman
event affects someone on a small scale.
Louise's internalizations, feelings and thoughts get magnified.
It's something that would have been lost in the cracks of a larger, busier movie.
But most importantly, it lays the groundwork for the incoming revelation.
[surprised exclamation] -Mom.
[helicopter noise fading] -Momma!
- Sorry honey...
-What day is it do you know baby?
I feel the best science fiction movies are the ones that succeed in stimulating our minds.
Not to confuse us with convoluted stories but to open us to new and less traveled horizons.
In Arrival's case, the concept that's being explored isn't only language and communication
but our perception of time.
When we think of time, we usually associate it to the hands on a clock, the days and months
on a calendar but all those things are just manmade indicators that give us a shared point
of reference like the marks on a ruler.
Having one moment form after another moving in a forward direction.
The past being what lies in memory.
the present what we are actively conscious of, and the future was lies beyond it.
So, in a way, our perception of time relies on how our mind organizes information.
In Arrival we meet Aliens with a different perspective that allows them to view time
as a whole (non- linearly), similar to the block universe theory.
Everything that will happen has already happened and the past present and future exist simultaneously.
This is even seen in their written language that has no beginning or ending.
They can maneuver their consciousness freely without our directional restriction of time.
Time (or how we perceive it) is what keeps everything from happening at once
But the problem as a storyteller is, how do you present this concept to an audience so
they can easily understand it?
Well the movie succeeds in doing so by using its own narrative as an example.
Just like how we perceive time, most movies are a collection of moments put in a linear
order.
In this case, we are in Louise's mind and the moments are the memories of her life.
But since her mind is being rewired through the alien language, her perception is changed.
In the original short story, it's the play on verb tenses that reveals how Louise can
see the past, present and future at once.
In the movie, it's how her memories are presented out of order.
A nonlinear narrative.
Just like Louise is trying to communicate with the aliens, the movie is trying to communicate
this concept to us in the simplest way we can understand it.
Louise and the aliens use logograms as a point of reference and in turn
the non-linear narrative is our visual point of reference to understanding this foreign
concept.
-I don't...
-I don't understand...Who is this child?
For a science-fiction film to be effective, we have to be able to connect the abstract
concepts to a human response in order to better understand and by extension, create an empathic
reaction.
Louise has gained the ability to see every moment in her own life.
Moments she has lived and moments she has yet to experience.
She knows that she'll marry Ian and have a daughter.
She knows that her own foreknowledge will drive Ian away.
She can see every moment of happiness and bliss that she'll experience with her daughter,
but that one day her daughter's life will be cut short due to a rare illness.
The film could have ended without delving into Hannah's story and it still would have
been a good sci-fi movie.
The inclusion of her story and the consequences of Louise's decision help elevate it and add
a layer of humanity.
What would you do in Louise's stead?
What choice do you make?
Do you try to change your own destiny, or do you accept what's to come?
In the short story, Louise's daughter dies from a climbing accident, so it could be argued
that if she wanted to, Louise could prevent her death.
In the film, the screenwriter takes away this possibility.
Hannah's cause of death is a rare disease, so it becomes an unavoidable.
Creating a difficult dramatic choice.
This is the point where an effective sci-fi film forces us to see beyond the scientific
aspect and leads into philosophical territory.
Do you deny your own child their existence to protect yourself and them from pain, robbing
yourself of the joy you would have both lived?
Does the joy of creating life and living with your family for a limited time outweigh the
inevitable grief you'll experience?
If everything that has ever happened or will happen is occurring at the same time, does
that mean that free will is an illusion?
-Despite knowing the journey and where it leads...I embrace it and I welcome every moment
of it.
We could spend hours speculating, theorizing and never actually finding a concrete
answer.
But that doesn't mean we should stop.
Scientists are seekers of truth, each within their own field.
Trying to find the truth about our bodies...nature...the world...the universe...all that there is.
Science-fiction allows us to expand that search and ask questions beyond our current limitations,
be it technology, space or even time.
If a sci-fi film leads us to wonder and look at life from a different point of view, it's
done its job.
The best science fiction movies are the ones that leave you questioning yourself...
Thank you for taking the time to for watch our video.
We invite you to like share and subscribe if you haven't done so yet.
I'm currently getting over a cold...hopefully it wasn't to obvious.
Todays musical composition was made by Eduardo Gonzalez, if you like his work you can find
his information down in the description.
If you wish to support this channel, please check out our Patreon page.
Until next time.